Machine for marking cylindrical articles



D. F. PUTNAM ET AL MACHINE FOR MARKING CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES Feb. 8,1949.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 28, 1945 s I w Mr? T I. Num E v V|+|O W. U RF S 8 m wa Q1" "w D C V. B

Feb. 8, 1949. D. F. PUTNAM ET AL MACHINE FORMARKING CYL INDRICALARTICLES Filed Nov. 28, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS David F. PuTnamy C harks F Robbins Patented Feb. 8, 1949 UNITED STATES PAT NT "OFFICEDavid F. Putnam and Charles -F.Robbins, Keene, N. H., assignors toMarkemi MachineCcmpany, Keene, N. H., a corporation of'New'Hampshn'eAppn'ciemNotanhem, 1945; Sean No. 6311370 1. This invention relates to amachine for marking cylindrical articles and is in the nature of animprovement upon the machines shown and described in co-pendingapplications, Serial No. 563,329, filed November 14, 1944 by Charles F.Robbins, and Serial'No. 605,808, filed July 18, 1945 by David F. Putnamand Charles H. Cheeseman. r

The machines shown in the above applications comprise a cylindricalprinting roll having a printing plate on its periphery and a holder forthe cylindrical article on which the imprint is to be made which islocated above the'printing roll and which has a through opening thereinof a size to freely receive the cylindrical article, said article, whenin the opening, rests freely on the periphery of the printing roll. v p

Said machines also include a hold-down roll adapted to engage thecylindrical article while it is in the holder and to maintain it incontact with the printing roll. V v

When the printing roll is rotated the frictional contact between theroll and the cylindrical ar-- ticle in the holder causes said article torotate and thereby a printed impression will be made on the article. V.1.

In the machines shown in both'of the applications the cylindricalarticles to be printed are fed successively and manually by theoperatorto the holder. In the machine shown in; the application SerialNo. 563,329, the printed articles have to be removed from. the holdermanually by the operator. In the machine shown in application, SerialNo. 605,808, there is provided means for automatically discharging theprinted articles fromthe holder,.1 a

In both machines, however, the cylindrical ar ticles to, be'printed haveto be fed to the holder by hand one at atime. It 'isone of the objectsof our present invention to provide'novel means for feeding the articlesautomatically tothe holder thus making the machine a completelyautomatic jone, I In order to give an understanding of the inven-'tionwe have illustrated herein a selected embodi ment thereof whichwillnow'be described after which the novel features will be pointed outin the appended claim.

In the drawings: T- 'Fig. 1 is an end'view of a machine embodying ourinventionwith parts broken out.

a: Fig. 2 'is'a side view of Fig. 1 also with parts; broken out. i I.Figs. 3, 4, and 5.are fragmentary sectionalviews illustrating theoperation of vthemachiner-w;

1 Claim. (01. 101-48) Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a cylindrical.

. operation. 1 The machine herein shown comprises a supporting frame Iin which is mounted a shaft 2 carrying a printing roll 3 which has-onits periph, erya type member or printing plate 4 carryingthe type bywhich the printed impression is made on a cylindrical article suchas thecylindrical article 5 shown in Fig. 6. h This printing plate or typemember 4 may befconveniently made of rub ber, although the material ofwhich it is. made forms no part of the present invention. The. machinealso includes an article-holding member 6 which is located above theprintingroll' 3 and is secured to a bracket 1 extending from the frame.i. J The article holder 6 is provided with a through opening 8 of a sizeto freely receive the article 5 to be printed.

The opening 8 provides an article-receiving pocket which is open at thebottom so that'the article '5 in theopening 8 rests freely on theperiphery of the printing roll 3..

'If desired the printing roll 3 may be "providedwith two peripheral ribs40 on which thecylin -x dricalarticlei'r rests when it is in the holder6; the printing plate 4 preferably being located betweentheseribs. H

The shaft '2 carrying the printing roll is rotated by any suitablemeans, and during its: rotation,

the printing plate 4 will be carried underneath,

the article'5 in the pocket 8. The frictional con tactbetwe'en thearticle and the rotating roll will' cause the article to rotate aboutits own axis and as the printing plate passes beneaththe holder aprinted impression will be made on'the article therein.

9 indicates a hold-down roll'which is movable" mit an unprinted articleto be automatically loaded into the holder 6 as"will be presentlydescribed. 7

l0 indicatesan inking roll carried by reservoir l I and by which thetype characters on the printing. plate 4 areinked. 1

rrne printin roll iss formed inl its periphery with an article-receivingcavity l2 which is 10-: cated. adjacentthe trailing edge of the printingplate 4, such cavity extending longitudinally of the printing roll andbeing of sufiicient size to receive the article 5.

Itwill be remembered that the cylindrical article 5 to be printed whileoccupying the pocket or opening 8 in the holder 6, is resting freely onthe printingroll; Consequently when during the rotation of the printingroll, (said roll being rotated in the direction of the arrow in Figs. 1,3, 4, and 5) the cavity 12 comes underneath the pocket 8, the printedarticle will drop by gravityg from the pocket into said cavity i2 asshown in Fig. 3, and the continued rotation of the printing roll willcarry the printed article out, fromundeii the holder as indicated inFig. "l; 'WhenQdurin'g; continued rotation, the printing roll reachesthe position shown in Fig. 5, the printed article will drop out of thecavity l2 and thus be discharged from the machine, a receptacle 13preferably be ing provided to receive the printed articles, as they arethus, discharged.

The parts thus far described are or may be similar to correspondingparts shown in the above-mentioned applications Serial Nos. 563,329 and605,808.

The present invention has for its object to pro; vide novel means forautomatically fee'ding 'the cylindrical articles 5 to the pocket 8 inthe holder 6, thus giving the machine high speed automatic,

characteristics both with respect to feedin the articles to the machineand discharging the printed articles therefrom,

Associated with the article holder 6 is a feed,- ing'chute i i adaptedto receive a, pl rality f cylindrical articles 5 to be printed, saidchutebeing preferably arranged at an inclination so that the articleswill automatically gravitate down the chute toward the holder 5. Asherein shown, the lower end of the chute may be connected to the holder6 while the upper end is supported by a suitable bracket arm l5 carriedby theiram e l'.

The hold-down roll a is carried at the lower end of a'plunger 6 which ismounted in a head ll carried by a bracket arm l8 thatis securedto. theframe, said plunger being acted on by a suitable spring {9. whichyieldingly holds it in its lowered position as illustrated inapplication Serial No. 563,329.

When the hold-down roll 9 is inits lower p erative position resting onthe; article which occupies the opening 8 and which is receiving theimprint from the type plate 4 as shown in Fig. 1, said hold-down rollacts as a stop; and prevents downward movement ofthe articles in thechute i l, said hold down roll holding the bottom article in the chuteseparated from the article which occupies the holder 6.

Means are provided for raising the hold-down an; 9 alt th c e in h h d rha received its imprint and has been discharged into. the cavity 52thereby to allow the articles in the chute to move forwardly and topermit the bottom a1;-v ticle in the chute to drop into the opening 5:of the holder.

The means for giving the hold-down roll- 9; its vertical movement fromits lowest operative. position to-its raised inoperative position issimilar to. that illustrated in said application Serial, No. 563,329.carried is mounted on the end of a lever 20 which is pivoted at 2| tothe frame of the machine, the end'22 of said lever being connected by alink 23 to the end of the arm 24 of an elbow lever 25 7 that. is pivotedto. the frame at 25. The other- The arm i8 by which the head i! is arm2'! of the elbow lever rests against and is operated by a cam 28 whichis fast on the shaft 2.

The cam 28 is so constructed and disposed that it acts on the arm 21 ofthe elbow lever thereby to raise the hold-down roll 9 just after thecavity l2 has received the printed article from the "'poeliet" 8'- or;the holder 6, and after the printing roll has rotated sufficiently tocarry the cavity out of register with the pocket 3 as shown in Fig. 4.When the hold-down roll is thus elewa .1 ;ed, the stack of articles willgravitate down the, chute and the end article in the chute will dropinto the opening 8 of the holder and come to rest upon the periphery ofthe printing roll. the high point of cam 23 passes oii from the "end34of "the elbow lever, the head H with the hold down roll will be moveddownwardly into its lowered operative position in contact with thearticle which is now occupying the opening 8 and is resting on theprinting roll as shown in Fig. '5. As the hold-down roll 5 reaches itslowered position, it engagesthe end article 5 in the chute and forcesthe column of articl'es'backward slightly from the position shown inFig. i to thatshown in'Fig. 5,"said-"rol1 at this time acting again as astop to hold the end article in the chute separated or'spa'ced somewhatfrom the article which is occupying the holder 6. With the presentinvention all the operator has to do is to maintain the chutel4 filledwith cylindrical articles to be printed, the mechanism here shownoperating automatically to feed the articles successively to the pocket8 in the holder Sand also operating automatically to discharge theprinted articles from the holder and from the printing roll.

We will preferably extend upwardly the side wall of the pocket oropening 8- which is opposite to; the chute as shown at 33 so as toprovide 40 a suitable stop for'th'e lower article when 'it gravitatesinto said pocket 8.

lVhile we have illustrated. herein a selected embodiment of theinvention; yet we do not wish tObe l-im'i-tedto the constructionalfeatures shown as variouschanges in the detailed construction of thedevice might be made without departing from the invention.

We claim: r

A machine for marking cylindrical articles comprising a cylindricalprinting roll carryinga printing'plate, a stationary holder situateddirectlyabo've the printing roll closely adjacent thereto, and havinganopening extending vertically thereth rough of a size to loosely receivea'cyl-indrical article to be printed, such article resting on and beingsupported by the peripheral surface o'f the'pri nting roll while it isoccupying saidope'ningfafeed chute leading to the holder for deliveringthereto the cylindrical articles to be printed, means to rotate theprinting roll, a hold-down" member to engage a cylindrical artiacleoc'cupying said opening and hold' it pressed against the printingroll as the latter rotates and byits rotation moves the printing platebeneath the article thereby'to make a'printed impress 510mm the articlewhile it 'is occupying said opening, said hold-down when thus engagingthe article in the holder constituting a stop for the unprintedcylindrical articles inthe' chute, said printing roll havingin itsperiphery an articlereceiving cavity adjacent the trailing end of theprinting plate into which the printed article drops when the cavitycomes into register with the opening in the holder, and means operativeafter the article receiving' cavity has moved out of 6 register with theholder to raise the hold-down UNITED STATES PATENTS mem'ber thereby tolet the end cylindrical article Number Name Dart e 11m 3h hute gr vl atm o he op n g of t 394,987 Mclndoe 25 18% 474,1e3 Cunny' May 3, 1392DAVID R PUTNAM 651,221 We1ss June 5, 1900 CHARLES F ROBBINS 985,479Waller Feb. 28, 1911 1,499,796 Wilkinson July 1, 1924 1,657,382 FeltonJan. 24, 1928 REFERENCES CITED 0 1,926,356 Tarlton Sept. 12, 1933 Thefollowing references are of record in the 1 2,088,196 Friden July 27,1937 file of this patent: 2,101,775 Bullard Dec. 7, 1937

